Material Citizenship Framework

Material Citizenship aims to ensure that people with a dementia are included in decision-making relating to their personal possessions and that everyday objects are included in care planning to support the maintenance of identity, personalisation, choice and control. This study is piloting a Material Citizenship education programme in a number of care homes. The study focus is to assess whether the training provides adequate understanding and confidence to deliver Material Citizenship, to gather qualitative description of impacts of the training and to assess implementation challenges.

The training resulted in increased staff involvement with facilitating activities of daily living, promoting hobbies and interests, promoting choice in care, maintaining favoured routines and easing transitions into care. There were different levels of implementation in different settings and change was facilitated by providing care home staff with a means to find a balance between risk and benefit.